| Community colleges are at the basic levels in American modern higher educational system, possessing unique functions and missions. This kind of schools don't confine themselves to the traditional education mode; instead, they have established themselves firmly in higher educational system by keeping up with the pace of the era to meet the needs of American citizens and the needs of local social and economical development. While the level is not senior, the contribution is enormous. Thus, community college education has developed at the greatest rate and become the most active among the different higher education levels in the U.S. The reason why the community college education has been energetic and long-lasting in the past century is that this kind of education plays dual functions in providing higher education and career training, thus satisfying people's needs of further education and profession training. As a result, students have flexible options between having a further education and getting employed. After graduating from a two-year community college, a student can choose to find an occupation or go to related universities for further education. By providing the society with different levels of professional personnel, this kind of education mode meets the objective needs of the development of society and economy in the U.S. and adds to the diversity of American higher education. The success of American community colleges can provide a beneficial inspiration and reference for vocational colleges in China. It is based on this comparative research background that this thesis is developed.IntroductionThis thesis opens with the "Introduction", in which quite a few aspects related to the thesis are introduced, including title choosing, the present situation of the research, the significance of the research, the research methods employed in the research and the scope of the research. Besides the "Introduction", there are other six parts in this thesis. The research follows the logic clues listed below.Chapter OneThe Position and Role the Community Colleges play in American Higher EducationThe American higher education system possesses a distinctive characteristic of diversity. As an important component, community college education is recognized as the basic level education in American higher education with its unique features. Its exclusive education function, education mechanism and education aims cannot be found in other universities. American community colleges have been playing an extremely important role in such aspects as serving the local social and economical development and promoting the goals of popularizing the higher education. Thanks to the community college education, American higher education system forms an exclusive three-grade education structure and four-grade degree system, thus the diverse modern higher education system being improved and perfected. The innovation of American community education system has proved excellent and has been playing an important role up till present. It is well recognized that the foundation and development of American community college education is one of the greatest contributions to American higher education as well as to the higher education in the world.Chapter TwoThe Ideology on which the American Community College education Is BasedThe education ideology is a reflection of the contemporary spirit while the latter, in turn, is the reflection of man's life. "Life has an impact on thought and thought also has an impact on life; they have impacts on each other continuously." At first glance, community college education was created by accident, which was a by-product when American higher education tried to learn from Germany to set up research-type universities. However, in fact, there existed certainty in chance: community colleges were a comprehensive and inevitable product born in an environment in a society where unique factors were found, including the unique ideology, political and economical system and multi-culture as we see in America. The ideological origin from which American community college education was created and developed is some basic ideological items related to higher education, including the concepts of democracy and equality rooted in American society, the political higher education philosophy that education has a profound and lasting influence on the development of the nation, the Americanized value of pragmatism and so on. The uniqueness of American society determines the uniqueness of community college education.Chapter ThreeFeatures of American Community CollegesIn the history of American higher education, the traditional universities and colleges were reluctant to admit large numbers of students who were eager to be exposed in higher education while in some aspects could not meet the requirements of these schools. Yet, the community colleges are quite different from other universities with their distinctive education features. Guided by the idea of democracy in higher education, community colleges focus on community, trying to satisfy the education needs of the community citizens and to provide support to the development of the local society and economy. They have undertaken daring innovation in education system, education mechanism and advantages and played an irreplaceable role in the field of higher education. As the main body of two-year higher education, community colleges can make full use of their advantages to meet the needs of American citizens in terms of education system, education mechanism and education functions. The course arrangements are flexible to satisfy the requirements of the society and economy reform. In this way, higher education is popularized in communities and the target students of this kind of education are all people. Education innovation and system reform are realized, which has a revolutionary impact on the traditional education system and concepts. Community colleges are well recognized among all works of life in American society and are thus called "people's colleges" and "democratic colleges".Chapter FourAmerican Community Colleges' Transferring Function for Students' Entry to Regular UniversitiesThe function of students' transferring to regular four-year universities, one of themajor functions, is one of the most important functions provided by communitycolleges. "2+2" transferring mode from junior college education to regular college education is the basic mode for community college students to achieve school transferring, the core of which is as follows: the two-year community college students who have finished the courses set in regular college education or vocational college education can be admitted to a four-year regular college to study from grade three for more advanced courses and finally get a bachelor's degree, as long as the credits they have got from community colleges are recognized by the latter. This mode of junction between junior colleges and regular colleges is a completely new way for students to get opportunities for higher education. It is quite different from the traditional access for high school graduates to entering universities in the U.S. and achieves the junction between associate-bachelor level and bachelor level education, providing the students an economic and convenient access to studying in four-year regular universities and thus creating a unique school transferring mechanism in the history of American higher education. The reason why community colleges can stand stable among higher education institutes is that this kind of education can provide the first two years' college education, and due to this academic characteristic community colleges prove themselves as "Genuine Colleges" that American citizens trust. From the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, American community college education came into being and enjoyed half a century's brilliant glory. It went into a low tide for a while but then enjoyed popularity once again. Up till today, there still exist different opinions among scholars at home and abroad about the future development of the American community colleges. Some scholars hold a belief that the function of school transferring will necessarily go downhill while some others are convinced that this important function should be given more attention and be emphasized. According to the present thesis, the function of school transferring will have a promising future with the popularization of higher education in the U.S., because of such factors as the higher education nature of community colleges, the unique "2+2" junction mechanism for connecting junior colleges and regular colleges, the society's huge demand for higher education and the democratic concepts of pursuing justice and equality in education.Chapter FiveAmerican Community Colleges' Function of Vocational and Technical EducationVocational and technical education is one of the two major functions provided by community colleges, the other being the function of school transferring. Different from other countries' higher vocational and technical education, the vocational and technical education in American community colleges takes on obviously a features of "single-track system", which adjusts its course setting and education guiding principles to meet the needs of the era and combines vocational education with general education perfectly. Here, academic education and technical training are combined together and "knowledge workers" needed in the era of knowledge economy are produced as well as the traditional "semi-major" personnel. Thanks to its irreplaceable role in American democratic politics, social and economical development and higher education popularization, community college education has won the support from American government, industrial and commercial enterprises and different classes of society, and established its major position in American higher vocational and technical education. In the second half century of the 20th century, this kind of vocational and technical education took on a new developing tendency: the theory and practice well matched P.T.Foster's vocational education theory and helped develop the latter. It also played an active part in promoting the development of the higher vocational and technical education in the world.Chapter SixStudying and ReferringCommunity colleges are unique higher education institutes created in the U.S. In its history of over a century, the American community colleges adjust themselves to the practical needs of the society, make innovations and develop rapidly, becoming important part of American higher education system, establishing a firm position in American higher education and having a great impact on American social life as well as the democracy and popularization of American higher education. The level and nature of higher vocational education in China is much similar to that of American community colleges while there exist a big difference between the two in terms of education aims, education functions, education mechanism and degree regulations. It is extremely beneficial for us to learn and refer to American community colleges' success, especially their successful experience in the dual functions of providing higher education and vocational training, which can serve to improve and perfect our vocational colleges' functional structure, to realize the variety of these schools' functions and graduates, to rectify and perfect the existing "students' transferring from junior colleges to regular colleges" policy and thus construct a Chinese-characteristic transferring system, to set up associate degree, to promote vocational education to meet the national standard, to promote the social status and reputation of vocational colleges and to perfect our country's degree system.
|
PDF Full Text Request